2001 OMB Submission Letter for the USPTO Report

I am pleased to submit the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) third "Annual Report on Management of Commercial Activities" for fiscal year 2001. This report has identified approximately 44 percent or 2,834 of our federal workforce as performing commercial type activities. This is an increase of 10 percent over our fiscal year 2000 report.

The USPTO took a proactive role again this year in conducting our inventory. From the start, our executives were briefed and onboard regarding the FAIR Act requirements and the President's initiative to ensure the accuracy of the inventory. The result of senior management involvement enabled the cross-organizational team developing the inventory to conduct a thorough analysis of all activities within the USPTO and compile a comprehensive inventory. In fact, our fiscal year 2001 inventory will open even more of our positions to competition with the private sector.

The USPTO has been a strong advocate of using the private sector to support our core mission businesses. Currently, the USPTO has over 2,800 contract personnel working either onsite at our facilities or offsite at contractor facilities. This work is in addition to potential commercial activities identified in our fiscal year 2001 inventory. Over the last 10 years, the USPTO has experienced around a 229 percent increase in patent and trademark filings. Service contracts, in particular, have presented an excellent opportunity to help us with this additional workload. During the last five years alone, spending for service contracts has tripled. I have enclosed a listing of the current services that the USPTO receives from commercial or other government sources for your information.

We are proud of our accomplishments and activities with regard to the FAIR Act and look forward to receiving feedback from OMB on our fiscal year 2001 inventory. Please direct any questions that may arise to Frances M. Michalkewicz, Director, Office of Corporate Planning, at (703) 305-8350.